PowerFit Yoga

Instructor: Linzee Klinkenberg, a Boulder native who now lives in Lafayette, who teaches boot camp and yoga classes for Fitness For Living. She is a professional jazz and modern dancer with a bachelor's in dance, and she runs a dance troupe. Klinkenberg is a Sport Yoga and American Council on Exercise certified personal trainer.

Klinkenberg has been doing yoga since high school. She has been teaching yoga for 10 years.

What is the workout? PowerFit Yoga is a blend of yoga and sport conditioning done outdoors (April through October) at Chautauqua Park. This flowing, Vinyasa-style class, with a fitness focus, was designed two years ago to increase strength and endurance, tone the body, strengthen core, improve flexibility, enhance athletic ability, prevent injury and rejuvenate the spirit. Classes also borrow principles from Pilates, Klinkenberg's dance background and other forms of yoga. Each class is different.

Classes may include dumbbells. The quick pace is designed to get your heart rate up and burn as many as 500 calories, while strengthening and stretching the full body. Classes start with a thorough warm-up. They typically start on the ground, move to standing and end with weights and a cool-down.

Students can also sign up for a five-week PowerFit Yoga Camp that also supports healthy nutrition (with a 21-day meal plan) and an overall balanced lifestyle (with tips, yoga poses of the week and an e-mail series).

What's different: It's outside, it uses light weights and it includes non-yoga fitness moves, like mountain-climbers or bicycle bas.

"We don't practice a lot of the chanting or the more traditional, historically used words. It is an American version of yoga," Klinkenberg says.

"I think it's an opportunity to laugh, practice humility and feel like an athlete when I'm doing it," she says.

What does it cost? Your first week is free. Then, for new students, it's $119 for five weeks. With two classes per week, that ends up around $11.90 per class, which is on the cheaper spectrum for Boulder County.

When: 7:15 a.m. Tuesday and Thursday for an hour to an hour and 10 minutes. Classes are also sometimes offered 5:45-6:45 p.m. Tuesday and Thursdays.

Level: Even though it's called PowerYoga, classes are designed to challenge all fitness and yoga levels. Most postures can be modified to either challenge the advanced students or ease up on the beginners. You do not need a yoga background.

"I have a huge spectrum of participants. I have advanced yogis and advanced athletes," Klinkenberg says. "I also feel like this is a great class for people who are coming back from an injury, or who are struggling with their weight or their sense of security to walk into the intense boot camp class."

The class tends to attract residents (and visitors staying nearby at Chautauqua) who don't consider themselves the "yoga type," but are more comfortable in a class that uses common terminology and a blend of familiar conditioning principles. It's also good for yogis who want to boost their fitness, and for athletes or other fitness students who want a more active, challenging "off" day in the week.

Classes are usually eight to 10 participants.

What to prepare: Bring a yoga mat, one pair of dumbbells (3- to 5-pounds for women, 5- to 8-pounds for men recommended) and a large towel to put under your mat in case the grass is wet. If you don't have weights for the first class, the instructor has some you can borrow. Wear comfortable, loose-fitting clothes and dress in layers, because it can be chilly that early in the morning, but you'll heat up quickly. Don't forget water.

Muscles worked: "Because of the yoga style, stretching is incorporated into everything we do," Klinkenberg says." There will always be multiple exercises at the same time. That way, in a single hour, your whole body gets worked sufficiently."

I especially felt it in my shoulders and core.

"We also do a lot of injury-prevention and injury-recovery work," Klinkenberg says. "We incorporate a whole body, whole mind approach."

What I loved: I feel like yoga should always be done outside, whenever possible. It is such a deeper experience physically, mentally and spiritually. I found it easier to balance while looking at an actual tree, not just my wobbly self in the mirror. The grass on my bare feet during shavasana connected me to the moment and made my heart happy, and that effect lasted all day until I went to bed.

I will remember this class for years to come as a simple, good memory, watching the dogs (a poodle -- yes!) chase each other, hikers and kids take on Chautauqua trails and the birds flying overhead. I felt like I was on vacation.

As for the class itself, I enjoyed this style of yoga, and even more so, the teacher's energy, attitude and way of communicating. She made me feel like I'd been coming to class for years, even though I dropped in once. I never had to crank my neck out of a posture to check around me to see if I was doing it right. Klinkenberg knows how to explain things so everyone was coordinated and no moment was lost. I pushed myself much harder than I usually do in a yoga class, yet I never felt the least bit strained.

Fitness for Living continues to put out well organized, strategic and thought-out, high-quality programs with memorable, knowledgeable instructors.

What I didn't like: It will never be easy for me to get up with the sun to go exert myself physically. I was glad this class had a solid warm-up to get my body functioning.

How I felt after the class: I was in a good mood all day, and the next morning my abs felt like they'd been worked.

-- Reported by Aimee Heckel.

Know of any interesting workouts? Tell us about them so we can check them out: heckela@dailycamera.com or 303-473-1359.

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